# Red Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia)

> A tall, suckering shrub of bogs and swamps with white spring flowers, glossy red fruit that hangs into winter and blazing red fall leaves.

Also called Photinia pyrifolia. Category: Nut & Fruit Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-chokeberry/

![Red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) clusters of white flowers with red anthers among glossy leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/red-chokeberry-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Bob Gutowski, CC BY 2.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAronia_arbutifolia2475275707.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 6 to 12 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 9
- Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, the coast, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: 25 states and the District of Columbia, north to Maine, south to Florida and west to Texas (Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia)
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Wet
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Edible, Fall color, Tolerates wet soil, Wildlife value, Showy flowers, Bears young, Winter interest, Erosion control
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Red chokeberry is a multi-stemmed shrub of wet ground that spreads into colonies. Its glossy red fruit stays plump and bright into winter, while black chokeberry's shrivels and drops soon after ripening. The raw berries are astringent, but sweeter than black chokeberry's, and they make a firm jelly. Ohio lists it as endangered. On a bank its spreading colony helps hold the soil. Plant a row along a wet ditch or in a rain garden, where the red fruit and red leaves carry color into winter.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Red chokeberry grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. It makes an upright, vase-shaped clump 6 to 12 feet tall and 3 to 6 feet wide.

Clusters of white to pale pink flowers with red anthers open in April and May. The glossy red fruit, a quarter to a third of an inch across, ripens from September to November and hangs on into January. Birds eat it mostly in mid to late winter. The leaves turn bright red in fall, as bright as burning bush.

It grows wild from Nova Scotia and southern Ontario to Florida and east Texas. Its home is swamps, wet thickets, bogs, fens, pocosins and wet pine flatwoods. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Ohio and Oklahoma, and no specimen confirms it in Maine.

## How to grow Red Chokeberry

Red chokeberry grows in full sun or part shade, and it flowers and fruits best in sun. It takes most soils, from boggy ground and occasional flooding to dry soil once rooted. Set plants 3 feet apart for a hedge, or up to 6 feet apart as single shrubs, and keep them 3 feet from a wall. It stays small enough to grow within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Clean the seed from the ripe fruit. Sow it outdoors in fall, three eighths of an inch deep. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for 90 days first. Chilled seed comes up within days of sowing.

Water weekly through the first summer. Deer damage it readily, so cage young plants for two or three winters. It grows leggy and bare at the base with age, so set it at the back of a border. Prune in spring after it flowers, and cut out unwanted suckers to hold its size.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, and bees and butterflies come for the nectar. One red chokeberry bears alone, because most of its seed forms without fertilization and grows into a near copy of the mother shrub. Seedlings may bear at 2 years old, and the shrub sets a good crop almost every year. Leaf spot and twig or fruit blight can occur, and roundheaded apple borers sometimes attack.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Aronia arbutifolia](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=220001116)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Aronia arbutifolia](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/aronia-arbutifolia/)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Aronia arbutifolia](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=286551)
- [The Morton Arboretum: Red chokeberry](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/red-chokeberry/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Aronia arbutifolia](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ARAR7)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Aronia chapter, Gill, Pogge and Bonner](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Aronia.pdf)
- [Native Plant Trust, Go Botany: Aronia arbutifolia](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/aronia/arbutifolia/)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Aronia arbutifolia](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.150578/Aronia_arbutifolia)
- [Ohio Department of Natural Resources: Rare Native Ohio Plants, 2024-25 Status List, effective December 26, 2024](https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/odnr/natural-areas/2024-25_Ohio_Rare_Native_Plants_Status_List_FINAL_draft.pdf)
- [Natural Resources Canada, Canada's Plant Hardiness Site: Aronia arbutifolia](https://planthardiness.gc.ca/index.php?m=7&speciesid=5363629&lang=en)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Native replacements for burning bush, barberry, privet, Bradford pear and boxwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-replacements-for-burning-bush-and-bradford-pear/index.html.md)
- [Native shrubs and trees deer usually leave alone, and why the lists disagree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-shrubs-and-trees-deer-leave-alone/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Red Chokeberry, add ?species=red-chokeberry with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=red-chokeberry&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Red Chokeberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=red-chokeberry): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=red-chokeberry
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Red Chokeberry is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=red-chokeberry
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Red Chokeberry needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=red-chokeberry:1
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Red Chokeberry flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.